Andalusia High School athletes will soon benefit from the presence of a full-time athletic trainer.

The Andalusia Board of Education on Monday approved an agreement with Encore Rehabilitation, Inc., in which Encore will provide a full-time trainer.

The trainer will be the primary provider of sports medicine services on the field, with the exclusion of physician services, and will be the liaison between the athlete, the physical therapist and the physician in the event of an injury..

The school will be required to display marketing materials for Encore.

Superintendent Ted Watson said Encore is not a partner of the Andrews Clinic in Pensacola and Ft. Walton, but works closely with them.

“This is something schools at larger cities have,” Watson said. “We find ourselves in a void here because of our location. With this agreement, we will have someone who travels with the teams and at training events.”

Watson said the AHS trainer might not travel if the opposing team has training services available, but the schedule will be mutually approved by AHS and Encore.